Following the completion of the railroad to Fort Worth came lumber yards and lumber dealers from all over East Texas. All that section of the city bounded by Houston street, Monroe street, on the east and west and by Ninth street on the north and as far south as the railroad reservation, was one vast lumber yard; and the entire country west, southwest and northwest of Fort Worth was supplied with building material from this city. Hundreds of wagons were loaded daily and the roads out of Fort Worth were lined with wagons transporting it to as far west as San Angelo and even beyond. It was the nearest market for all the western country for several years and brought millions of dollars to the city. The first cotton compress was erected by Col. E. W. Morton, about the foot of Commerce street. The first bale of cotton was compressed on the 17th day of September, 1877, with appropriate ceremonies. On September 2d, 1878, a second compress was erected. The first grain elevator was erected by Mark Evans about where the present depot of the Fort Worth & Denver road now stands. The first ice factory was built by R. E. Maddox, W. H. Little and Dr. N. Wallerich, they having acquired the plant of the first refrigerator and converted it into an ice factory. EFFORTS AT UPLIFT. The reformer was here then as now and tried to reform every one else but himself, just as they do now and with about the same success. The town was “wide open” to the horror of some and an effort was made at intervals to put a stop to the open gambling house. One Grand Jury falling under the influence of the “up-lifters” brought out indictments against about thirty members of a whist club that played whist in the rear of a saloon owned and managed by Henry Byrne. (His widow, Maggie, lives here still.) The club was composed of the business men of the city; not one of whom ever entered the wide open gambling houses. Having no business, they played whist. The stakes were a bottle of beer—if any one wanted the beer. A dozen or more indictments were found against each member. The District Attorney was a Dallas lawyer. The fee in each case was ten dollars. A pretty good sum for one term of Court. The juries were compelled to find verdicts of guilty and assessed the fine at from 1/37 of a cent up to one cent. But it carried the costs. The county paid many hundreds of dollars for the fun and the district attorney gathered many thousands. He was not a candidate for re-election. OH! THE FUN WE HAD.